Posting My Comments To Jeff Cobbs' Lead Story Today On The Chevy Spark EV

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The thread I started March 18, 2014 included a picture of a 2014 Chevy Spark EV brochure held up next to a 110V AC outlet.

The fact that all Chevy Dealers had the brochures, that manditory GM Training, internet based, on the Chevy Spark BEV had concluded for sales and tech's had me wondering, hence the thread that I will link below
Link Goes To My OP, March 18, 2014-

My post, it seems created quite a stir. All I was doing was just prematurely putting two and two together.
Here is a comment from one of our charter members, Statik, now the Publisher of the most quoted and Number 1 Electric Fueled Vehicle Portal in the world, InSideEVs.

Jay Cole- (Comment #19- March 18, 2014)

Hey fellas,

"Sorry to be the bearer of 'non-news' but I have been talking to the execs at GM associated with the Spark EV the past two days, and I mentioned this apparent indication of a national roll-out. Long story short, they are not quite sure how people and/or dealerships have gotten the wrong idea.

They were/are "totally sure" (their words) that there is no plans to roll-out the Spark EV nationally, or how this info got distributed nationally, but asked if I would "put the word out on their behalf" on the Spark EV's status if it came up in the media circles just so their would not be any confusion.

That was all it took for my friend and our Moderator, Steverion to issue the following statement and alter the title of my OP.

Steverino- (Comment #20 March 18th, 2014)

"Thanks Jay. I have updated the original post and thread title."

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Heh, I had creaed a storm and had almost gone viral with my observations! He he!

All this, came about before legionary Green Car writer John Voelcker broke with the 2015 Chevy Spark EV update story on May 15, 2014.

"General Motors announced yesterday that it will bring assembly of the electric Spark's battery in-house and assemble packs for the 2015 Spark EV at the Brownstown, Michigan, plant that already builds batteries for the Chevrolet Volt, Opel/Vauxhall Ampera, and Cadillac ELR."

Now bring in Sam McEachern, writing for GM Authority in a story I had missed.

"The next-generation Chevrolet Spark, due out in 2015, has been spied wearing some heavy camouflage during cold weather testing. The end of the current Spark’s lifecycle is drawing closer, after being sold in some parts of the world since 2009.

The all-new minicar is pictured with a dramatic rearward sloping roofline and a high beltline. Also, it appears the rear door handles have been moved from behind the rear window back to a more conventional spot on the doors.

There is speculation that the 2015 Spark could ride on the same chassis as the rumored new small car from Opel, which is said to be a four-door, four-seater with a base price of around €10,000

The new Spark is expected to arrive sometime in the first half of 2015, with its potential Opel platform mate arriving in late 2015 to early 2016."

So now it all makes sence. Educate the sales and service elements on the current product and platform while using the exhisting platform for beta and field tests in limited market.
Move to Game Chaging Platform as Ready Tech reaches Critical Mass and roll out world wide with new platform, batteries and product.

Thanks James, Jay, Jeff and our shared writers for an engaging page one story today!

Nice summary. In my opinion I think roads are leading to a larger roll out. Maybe not US national but likely larger.

Also the Spark EV is on Gamma II. GM does not have a replacement for this platform yet. The spy photos you are seeing are likely a large mid cycle enhancement (for the Spark). Same platform but a major update.

The Opel Corsa is moving to Gamma II platform from the SCCS platform (Fiat based). So GM is likely commonizing parts during the update and refresh.

The original Gamma platform was developed by GMDAT in Korea. The 2000-2006 Corsa was on the Gamma I platform but it got old quick (in Europe) so Opel used an agreement with Fiat to develop the Corsa on SCCS platform for the 2006 model year. Gamma II is a heavily updated “Global” platform that saw significant engineering from GM Europe that debut in 2010 with the Spark. So a new Corsa is now coming on Gamma II and the Spark will see an update as a result to spread development costs around.

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Nice summary. In my opinion I think roads are leading to a larger roll out. Maybe not US national but likely larger.

Also the Spark EV is on Gamma II. GM does not have a replacement for this platform yet. The spy photos you are seeing are likely a large mid cycle enhancement (for the Spark). Same platform but a major update.

I think I agree. If they didn't intend to roll out bigger/build a lot more, you wouldn't see the new engineering work that's going into the car - the new motor with 80% of the torque but the same power output (and on 25% taller gearing so it's got the same performance profile,) the new battery pack that's smaller and lighter but delivers the same power and range.

As a compliance car, I expect that they'd keep buying the more expensive parts because they couldn't justify the engineering cost of the update. Since they are doing the updates, though, I expect they'll start shipping cars to other markets shortly after the upgrades hit the street (it sounded like the new in house battery packs were a 2015 model year thing, so maybe late summer?)

Ah, the Vauxhall Viva, my dad had one of those for a couple of years in the '80s. Then, like many others servicemen, he was posted to Germany and took advantage of the Buying Car^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HLiving Overseas Allowance to buy a new car.

Shared battery tech, shared motor. I hope that it's not just for overseas markets and they do go national with the next Spark EV. It would be a good opportunity to take a leaf out of Tesla's book and try something with demo models. Hopefully, tied to the release of Volt 2 so they can do some serious promotion.